January 10, 2015

Week in Review—South Bend

SOUTH BEND, IN—The United States Attorney’s Office announced the following activity in Federal Court:

PLEAS

  • Matthew Eash, 33, of Bristol, Indiana pled guilty to the felony offense of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The magistrate judge is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea. Parties have 14 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sentencing has been set for April 8, 2015. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jesse Barrett.
  • Derrick Smith, 40, of South Bend, Indiana pled guilty to the felony offense of felon in possession of a firearm. The magistrate judge is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea. Parties have 14 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sentencing has been set for April 8, 2015. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Schaffer.
  • Andre A. Forbes, 40, of South Bend, Indiana pled guilty to the felony offenses of distribution of crack cocaine and cocaine powder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and tampering with a government witness. The magistrate judge is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea. Parties have 14 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sentencing has been set for April 15, 2015. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Donald Schmid.

If convicted in court, any specific sentence to be imposed will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

DISPOSITIONS

  • Kevin A. Hoffman, 40, of St. John, Indiana was sentenced to 300 months’ imprisonment with 10 years’ supervised release after being found guilty by jury trial to the felony offenses of production and possession of child pornography. According to documents filed in this case, in September 2013, Hoffman was living with his girlfriend. Also living at the address were his girlfriend’s daughters ages 18 and 6. Hoffman used his cell phone to take nude photographs of the youngest child. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Maciejczyk.
  • Carla Latice Merriweather, 25, of South Bend was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment with two years’ supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm. According to documents filed in this case, in the early morning hours of August 6, 2014, the defendant stole a white pickup truck in South Bend, Indiana. Inside the truck was a loaded AMT pistol, model: Backup, caliber: .380. The defendant then used that firearm to shoot at a male who was pursuing her from whom she had obtained controlled substances in the past who she believed was following her in an effort to collect a drug debt. This occurred near the intersection of Western and Walnut in South Bend. A little after 3:00 a.m. on August 6, 2014, police then saw the defendant driving the stolen vehicle and attempted to stop the vehicle. The defendant then led police on high speed chase. At one point during the chase, the defendant ran a red light and narrowly missed colliding with another vehicle who was proceeding through the intersection on a green light. While police were in pursuit and attempting to apprehend her, the defendant fired multiple rounds from the stolen handgun at the pursuing officers. The vehicle pursuit ended at Barbie Street and Main Street in South Bend where Merriweather initially refused to exit the truck despite police commands to do so. Merriweather was subsequently taken into custody. After being placed in a police vehicle, the defendant then began to kick at the windows of the police car. Officers tried to restrain her, and she attempted to bite the officers. This case was the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Donald Schmid.